Forum Rocket Spanish Spanish - Grammar When telling time son vs es I thought es is only used for telling time of One something why is it used with Es cuarto para las doce de la noche.

When telling time son vs es I thought es is only used for telling time of One something why is it used with Es cuarto para las doce de la noche.

AlanM32

AlanM32

When telling time son vs es  I thought “es” is only used for telling time of One something why is it used  "Es cuarto para las doce de la noche" or “Es caurto para las nueve”  “Es la uno menos tres” and why is “son” used with “Son las diez menos diez” What's the rule son vs es when telling time beside when the time is one something? 

Scott_C

Scott_C

The verb and the subject have to agree in number. Time is the same.

 

“Cuarto” is one quarter and “uno” of course is one. So you use “es” since the subject is singular.

 

Son is used with all hours except one. In your example (10 to 10) it can be thought of as “It is 10 hours minus 10 minutes."  Since hours is plural, the verb is plural as well (son).

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